Newborn: The Story of the Polong

My concept of my Newborn entry is based on the story of the 'Polong', a Malaysian folklore creature. In a nutshell, my Newborn is a creature created by a black magic practitioner formed out of a murderer's blood. The blood is put into a bottle and dark incantations are cited to bring forth its existence. After a period, crying sounds will be audible from the bottle, and the owner will then have to feed the Polong blood from his finger. The Polong will then be summoned for evil intentions by the Master.

To explain further on my Newborn creature and on the elements in my illustration, here are some keywords...

- unseen ghost/invisible/never seen before- could be very unreal and doesn't have to make sense, hence the smoky, ghostly effect
- neither human nor demon, hence bits of animal parts, human parts, and plant parts
- crying sounds, hence the tears
- bird noises , hence the bird
- accompanied by a Pelesit, that is said to resemble a cricket (drawn by the head).
The Pelesit would burrow a hole into the victim, and the Polong would enter the hole.
For the "razor sharp tail", i used the shape of a keris since it's very symbolic of the Malaysian culture. I also used the hilt of a keris at the claw.

** UPDATE: So here is my final piece in two versions, one cropped and one uncropped. I may make changes in the future (past the contest deadline) with addition of some narrative maybe.

Stressed very much on the bones and flesh and all forming from the bottle to show the birth of the Polong, it was something new to me to do and i had loads of fun with it. The experience working on this piece alone was a win to me on personal grounds!

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...and what i referenced and gathered from the web if anyone is interested to know more:

From Monstropedia
Description
No one has ever illustrated the figure of the demon but all agree that it is evil and hideous.
Creation
Polong is said to have been created from the blood of a murdered person and this blood is put into a bottle for one to two weeks before the spirit is invoked with incantations and magic spells.

After two weeks, the owner will start to hear sounds coming out of the bottle. It is the sound of crying. By then he should cut his finger and drain the blood into the bottle to feed the demon. This is the sign of allegiance and of loyalty to serve the master. The blood which feeds the demon is said to have tied both parties together: one as Master and the other as the servant.

From Wikipedia
It is an unseen ghost that can be used by a black magic practitioner to harm someone. It is particularly meant to harm other people.(...)
Polong is said to have been created from the blood of a murdered person and this blood is put into a bottle for one to two weeks before the spirit is invoked with incantations and magic spells.

After two weeks, the owner will start to hear sounds coming out of the bottle. It is the sound of crying. By then he should cut his finger and drain the blood into the bottle to feed the demon. This is the sign of allegiance and of loyalty to serve the master.

From Manananggals
A Polong can be conjured by pronouncing incantations over a bottle full of a mudered man’s blood. It needs to be fed blood daily by its owner, usually by cutting a finger for a polong to suck.

Per legend, when ready, the Polong can be dispactched to kill your enemies by burrowing into them and causing fatal illness.
(...) According to one source, the polong is accompanied by a familar called Pelesit. The Pelesit has a razor sharp tail it uses to burrow into a victim and then makes a sound when the hole is big enough, the Polong then enters the hole and causes the victim to be driven mad, usually the victim will rant and rave about cats when this happens.

The Polong is neither formerly human, nor a demon, but it is in fact created from the blood of a murdered man kept within a bottle. After several weeks of reciting incantations the Polong will emerge and must then by fed by a prick of blood from its masters finger. The Polong will obey its master and kill or drive insane its masters enemies.

The Pelesit is created by the tongue of a dead infant and it should be the first born child of a firstborn mother dead less then 40 days.

From Singapore Investigators
Pour the blood of a murdered man into a bottle and recite the appropriate charm, and after seven or twice seven days a bird-like chirp will announce the presence of a Polong. Every day the owner must feed this familiar with blood from his or her finger.

This is Top Notch Cal. Kickass concept and idea too. The design elements are very traditional and i love the flow of the overall composition though i do think the bottle with the blood could be a lil lower so that the blood flowing out of the tip would be more visible.. Maybe its just me i guess lol.

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Nironeru- I'm glad the bottles by the back are obvious enough for you to say so, thank you! Am definitely aiming for an Asian/cultural flavor this time

Rez- Or Mun? Thanks so much for your kind comments and for dropping in! I referenced design elements alot to try stay true to the direction i'm going for.. spent a day plus merely immersing myself into the pictures and information on the web. Do hope it reflects!

Hmm the bottle, yep could have moved down slightly lower i guess.. will try do adjustments later on (perhaps at near final..now i'm trying a different way to color it, using quite a load of layers).

Yay! its colored!! I believe this would be the first layer? The colors are great!! The arm seems like a huge portion now because it is fully teal/green-ish. maybe break it down with some other color changes? Maybe some traditional tattoo on the arm..Ooo.. more patterns!! >< I would maybe try some simple patterns for the BG too.. The human is getting a lil unfresh ^^ just my 2 cents worth.

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Rez- lol *returns you 2 cents?
I did have have i wanted overall roughly in mind, playing the warm and cool to push the layers in depth.. i have my near finish piece now, sorry i didn't quite check back the forum since my last post.. have a look all mighty Rez! Oh and that second wip was my base layer(s), yep

wildcat0571- Thank you! I am trying to push a style here alright, though with quite a different take from my usuals.

ktkps- Thanks! I guess i'm more familiar with chinese motives and such, thus the subconscious influence on the old Chinese look.. But i'm just keeping it going in a trance now

i wish i had something else to offer besides "holy f&@#ing sh** that's awesome!"
but alas, i don't.

oh wait.. i do....." holyf&@#ing sh** that is extremely kick ass."

oh and also, upon staring some more--perhaps the left you speak of---- its just the figure sort of feels ..erm..lost, i think, a little with the colors you have. Like the outline should be a bit darker because there are so much darks and red on the right, that bothers you? i dunno im tryin to be helpful also instead of just awestruck. LOL

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riotorange- Lol thank you!! Hmm i was thinking the bottom left is just missing something. Needs a pinch of red, but something not so..unimportant (am i being confusing here?. I think it would have been nice if i could put some narrative there, like those caligraphy characters that reads vertically, but for the life of me i can only write english. I threw in something there now though, with my housemate's help.

As for the figure, it's made to blend to the back a little because i don't want it to have too much focus since it is secondary to the Newborn creature. Thanks still though, i'm still considering it

ah well i had figured you probably didnt want it standing out too much, but thought perhaps that was what was making you feel it was missing something.
Maybe you might add another one of the little spiraly plant like things that are on the right of it?

maybe i should stop staring at the art and read what its about in order to help you some. HAHA

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Thanks still, i still appreciate your feedback The plant.. hmm, it may clutter the space there too much, unnecessary distraction?

Here's my update anyhow, just tossed in that little chinese-y seal chop.
In addition to that little thing that bothers me, i'm hoping it completes my aim to make it look like an old traditional parchment/book/scroll that tells the myth of the Polong!